High Engine Hours

VexatiousGlove · April 14, 2023

Looking at a used 2019 Sierra Denali. It only has about 40000 miles. But it has 3400 engine hours which seems a little extreme. Service records indicate oil changes at 5-10k intervals. Not feeling confident in that. The price is good though. No accidents, no frame rust.

The engine hours with the service intervals is a pretty huge red flag to me though. Curious to see what you guys would do if looking at a truck with that kind of hours on it.

Bikerjon · April 14, 2023

Too many hours. 10000 mi oil changes?

I would run like hell from this one.

Grumpy Bear · April 14, 2023

I have 165K on my 2015 and has 3,900 hours clocked. That is a sick amount of idle time.

Add service intervals approaching 1.5X the books 'normal' service on a vehicle clearly on the 'severe' schedule. They could give it to me, and I don't think I would let it sit in my driveway. :idiot:

Yesh! YMMV :rolleyes:

CamGTP · April 14, 2023

Pretty easy for a work truck to get that many hours on it. The boss man or contractor could have let it idle for long periods of time while on a jobsite.

My work truck has 192,000+ miles on it but over 5,000hrs. Like here in the winter if it's below 5 degrees outside I rarely shut it off, it may run for 8 hours straight. The fleet service does 20k mile oil changes too lol, but it is a Cummins engine with lots more oil capacity.

If it came with an extended powertrain warranty, might be worth it.

VexatiousGlove · April 14, 2023

Thanks I’m going to pass on it. The service intervals are just way too sketchy for the amount of hours on it.

That’s probably why it’s been sitting at the dealer for so long. GM displays the engine hours by default, very noticeable. I had to do a double take when I saw 3400.

swathdiver · April 14, 2023

That's an average speed of about 11.76 MPH. That's 100% city driving according to government standards.

If the motor runs good and they took my low ball offer...

newdude · April 14, 2023

In terms of hours to miles on that engine, WELL over 100k on it.

GM has a standard conversion factor they use of hours X 33mi/hr average speed for approximating if a vehicle has low or high idle time. 3400 x 33mi/hr = 112,200mi worth of run time. That is A LOT of idling. Like cop car levels of idling.

The DIC might even have it broken down too as I think the 19-22 trucks with the uplevel clusters it can show driving hours and idle hours broken down.

Edited April 14, 2023 by newdude

swathdiver · April 14, 2023

9 hours ago, newdude said:

In terms of hours to miles on that engine, WELL over 100k on it.

GM has a standard conversion factor they use of hours X 33mi/hr average speed for approximating if a vehicle has low or high idle time. 3400 x 33mi/hr = 112,200mi worth of run time. That is A LOT of idling. Like cop car levels of idling.

The DIC might even have it broken down too as I think the 19-22 trucks with the uplevel clusters it can show driving hours and idle hours broken down.

On the flip side, the transmission and rest of the drivetrain will be like new!

GETGONE · April 15, 2023

But does it account for the "auto stop/start"? Is it technically "running" if the auto stop is engaged but the engine isn't running?

redwngr · April 15, 2023

Revolutions per hour are much less idling vs running 65 or 70 down the highway.

Still, I'd want to know if it's 4 oil changes (40,000 / 10,000) or if it's 8 oil changes (40,000 / 5,000)

Is it at a dealer?

Any sort of 'warranty' ?

newdude · April 15, 2023

11 hours ago, GETGONE said:

But does it account for the "auto stop/start"? Is it technically "running" if the auto stop is engaged but the engine isn't running?

Auto Stop/Start only runs for say 30 seconds - 1 minute if the correct conditions are met in the ECM. If its in a stop and go driving scenario, it will disable it until the conditions are met again for stop/start. You won't see a message on the dash, but rather, the internal timing of the system in the ECM keeps track. So that "off" time is like 0.001% factor here.

Grumpy Bear · April 15, 2023

13 hours ago, redwngr said:

Revolutions per hour are much less idling vs running 65 or 70 down the highway.

Still, I'd want to know if it's 4 oil changes (40,000 / 10,000) or if it's 8 oil changes (40,000 / 5,000)

Is it at a dealer?

Any sort of 'warranty' ?

33 mph in top gear is idling :rollin: Ya Tee'd it up....I had to swing at it. :crackup:

redwngr · April 15, 2023

1 hour ago, Grumpy Bear said:

33 mph in top gear is idling Ya Tee'd it up....I had to swing at it.

34000/800 is 42.5 mph average.

So what does that 42.5 mph average mean (other than it's about the same as 165,000/3900)??

Grumpy Bear · April 16, 2023

9 hours ago, redwngr said:

34000/800 is 42.5 mph average.

So what does that 42.5 mph average mean (other than it's about the same as 165,000/3900)??

He said 40,000 miles and 3,400 hours. 11.76 mph. It was just a funny. Meant nothing by it other than a laugh.

VexatiousGlove · April 16, 2023

On 4/14/2023 at 8:39 PM, redwngr said:

Revolutions per hour are much less idling vs running 65 or 70 down the highway.

Still, I'd want to know if it's 4 oil changes (40,000 / 10,000) or if it's 8 oil changes (40,000 / 5,000)

Is it at a dealer?

Any sort of 'warranty' ?

It was at a dealer with good reviews. No warranty and they didn’t seem concerned about the hours vs service intervals. I don’t have the carfax anymore but it was oil change at 7k, 16k then 26k then a service at 35k and one that the dealer did before selling the truck at 40k that didn’t mention an oil change.

No warranty offered.

Edited April 16, 2023 by VexatiousGlove